Tumi Morake Speaks On Dropping Out And Her Promise
By Purity Lisa on December 19, 2018
Tumi Morake had to drop out of university at some point, with the promise that she would one day return.
In her book, she describes how she was deep in debt and thus feared for her future at the university.
“By 2003, I was deeply in debt to the university. I had applied twice already for a loan from Wits, and had now run out of lifelines. I did not even have enough to register for a new year, even if I could raise the money I owed.”
Tumi could not be readmitted back to the school, until she finished paying her debt.
“I had seen it coming, but it still left me demoralised. Could not come this close to my degree and have the opportunity snatched so easily from me. I wanted to do this one thing for myself and my mother, so I decided against staying in Thaba Nchu. I had a better chance of finding my way into the industry by living in Johannesburg…but I wanted that degree.”
After six years, she fulfilled her promise and returned to complete her degree.
“I wanted to avoid the ‘But Mom, you never finished your degree, why should I finish mine?’ argument that could happen with my son in the future. Also, I wanted to finish the degree for my mother, so she could say she had a graduate in the family. I wanted to gift my mother this degree. She had loved my overconfidence in applying to a single university, and I had to deliver.”
Tumi eventually graduated, but could not attend the ceremony due to her mother’s deteriorating health.
“When my letter of graduation arrived, I took it to Mama with the delight of a schoolkid. Her first graduate. Normally she would not have missed my graduation ceremony for the world, but by the time it occurred in 2011, she had already been hospitalised. She had been looking forward to this day ever since I told her I had finally completed the damn thing, and I could tell that she was heartbroken to miss it.”
